Punch (2002)

Dr. Sam Frizzell lives alone with his eighteen year old daughter Ariel Frizzell in the upper middle class Kitsilano neighborhood of Vancouver. Sam has dated little since his wife died when Ariel was a young child, he instead focusing his attentions on his daughter. With the exception of sex, Ariel has almost become a surrogate wife for Sam. Ariel, on the other hand, has taken that role one step further, she who has an Electra complex. Ariel has had behavior issues, in large part due to the circumstances around her mother's death and the way Sam has treated her since. As such, she has no real friends and she is home schooled by a tutor - a young man named Markus who often cannot control his student - as she couldn't function within a school environment. Into their lives comes Mary. As their third date, Sam thinks it would be a good idea for Mary to come to his house to meet Ariel. Mary's already tenuous dating life takes a step backward when Ariel is openly hostile toward Mary over dinner, with the evening ending with Ariel physically assaulting Mary. The assault does not sit well with Julie, Mary's sister who works as a topless boxer in a local bar. Like Ariel, Julie has anger issues stemming from her growing up period, with the boxing ring being what she believes her controlled her anger management outlet. Julie does whatever she feels she needs to both to get justice for her sister and to ensure that Mary is happy in whatever relationship she decides to embark.

This is what the movie box says: "Ariel is a girl with more than her fair share of personal problems. When she learns to take out her frustrations in the boxing ring, she find it just might be her chance to fight for a better life." The front of the box has a pic of Ariel, played extremely well by Sonja Bennet, with a tank top and her hands wrapped for boxing-a little spatter of blood-standing in a boxing pose. Now, the problem with that is that never once in the movie did she learn to box. And never once in the movie did she get inside a boxing ring!

Now, if you just ignore those facts, this film is a great movie. It was well directed-Guy Bennett's first film. Michael Riley plays Ariel's father and he was quite impressive. What this film is really about is a young girl, who's trauma from her mother's death has made her a mean antisocial type, who's possessive of her father. There is a very obvious sexual tension between her and her father as a result of her taking on the housewife role of her mother, and this is really the the base of the story. After assaulting his new girlfriend, she's forced to grow up and take responsibility for her life and her actions by the victim's sister- an undefeated topless boxer. That part, as others here have said, was just for titillation. She learns to grow, to let go, and to experience life through the consequences of her actions. This is a great movie, well acted and directed. Well told. There are a handful of short, well done fight scenes-especially the one at the climax. I don't want to say to much her and give anything away. Pick it up for a good conversation piece, not date-night with the town tough girl. Just ignore the stuff on the back of the box.

IMDB Reviewer

My Blog - Check it ;)

password: Avaxhome
5% recovery record included

Interchangable links.